A week from now we will have a new Star Wars movie. I still can’t believe I’m writing that. I remember how excited I was when they announced the prequels back in the late 90s. I then never thought (particularly after the reception the prequels got) that we would ever get a sequel trilogy. Perfect that it has actually happened 30 years later so that it can be the same cast as the original trilogy that we love, and widely regarded as a good thing that George Lucas is no longer at the helm. JJ Abrams looks to be steering the ship in a very good direction judging by the trailers so far. With a big, deep breath I’m patiently waiting until Thursday when I sit in the theatre and watch Episode 7 with a whole range of emotions.

To build up the excitement even more I thought I would rewatch and review all the previous Episodes in a row, just to fully get back in the zone. And as it is the continuing adventures carrying on into Episode 7 I thought I should watch them in chronological order from 1-6. I’ve never done that before but it’s something I’ve been thinking about lately in terms of when I introduce my children to Star Wars. Do I let them watch the original trilogy first like I did? Or start them with the prequels. Advantages of showing them the original trilogy first are that 1) they don’t get the Luke’s father reveal spoiled, 2) they don’t get used to shiny CGI in the prequels before then going back to looking at the older looking Star Wars with 70s haircuts and 3) if they start with the prequels they might just not get into the franchise as a whole. So many things are spoiled if you watch the prequels first and there are so many sentimental nods in the prequels that you wouldn’t appreciate if you hadn’t seen the original trilogy first (maybe not a bad thing). I think I’ve answered my own question there. I’ll show them the original trilogy first. But for this exercise this week I was intrigued to see what it would be like to watch Episodes 1-6 in quick succession.

Just for transparency too, I didn’t think I would actually manage to watch a film and review it every single night in the six days leading up to The Force Awakens. I’ve got a wife, young children and a busy job. So I planned on starting watching the films 10 days in advance of The Force Awakens instead of 6 days in advance, but actually as it happens I’ve started watching them 8 days in advance. Still doable I think though. And the point is that I’m immersing myself back into the whole series of films so that I can continue the adventures next week with Episode 7. The posts will go up starting from tomorrow and I’ll write my Episode 7 review after my second showing of The Force Awakens on the 17th (I’m seeing it in 2D and then in 3D).

Right, let’s do this.

PS – I’ve been relistening to the awesome Nerd Lunch drill downs on Episodes 1-6 in the run up to this Star Weeks, and also reading Kyle Anderson’s great rewatch reviews on Nerdist.